"Sick", "degenerate" and "execrable" were just a few of the words readers of Germany's Die Zeit used to describe Juergen Teller's recent weekly column in the magazine, which paired the photographer's images with his own pithy commentaries.

He works with extremes of theatricality and intimacy, humour and abjection. Teller is no more kindly to himself, and he's happy to play the buffoon, the lover, the beast and the man shitting in the woods. Regarded as much as an artist as a fashion photographer, he also makes no distinctions between his very different projects. Put simply, he photographs his life.

Teller, who has lived in London since 1986, having completed a very formal technical photography education in Munich, still insists on working with 35mm film rather than digital photography. Sometimes he uses the camera as though it were a machine gun. Being photographed by Teller is an unnerving experience, and I have the scars – or rather the pictures – to prove it.

• Juergen Teller will be here to answer your questions between 1pm and 2pm (GMT) on Thursday 16 February. Post your questions below, then come here to join him in conversation on Thursday.

He was sort of more influential when i met him in 1991 in Tokyo. I was very young at the time and I couldnt believe his immense power and enthusiasm in which he put his universe into photographs. I was so impressed with how free his mind was. I have just bought a book, last week in New York, of his Cat, like the sentimental journey of his wife, at the end the Cat gets cancer and dies. It is such a beautiful, moving work. I was seriously moved. He is brilliant.

When you're making your own, non-commissioned work you obviously have 100% control of the whole process, whereas in fashion photography I imagine you have to give the client what they want and maybe sometimes compromise ideas and put up with airbrushing of the models and so on. Is this ever a cause of frustration? Are you ever unhappy with the final images due to changes which you didn't authorise or want?

It is obviously a different thing, but I have never had any problems with clients wanting to airbrush the models. They will go somewhere else for that. I try my best to make it as interesting for myself as possible and therefore, good for the client too. Nothing is an easy ride, and of course sometimes I get frustrated, but I do try and maintain as much control as I can in the presentation, layout combinations etc. And of course I do respect the client. I have such a small client base, we know eachother very well and it is a great pleasure and satisfying.

I am wondering how you defend your work in public as I'm sure you have been scrutinized numerous times. How do you defend your views and the decision to crate what you have done? Specifically talking about nudes here. The reason for the question is because I'm working on a project where I'm sort of doing exactly that, but in a part of the world where this is extremely controversial. I kind of want to hear what you say if faced with difficult questions to answer?

I like keys to the house (was it all on contax g2?) - the contrast between the safety of the known, the familiar, the intimate (even if chaotic) and the outside, wild but still and silent nature. makes a void clear, very present. feels very different from your other work, though...did I missed the link or the point, or did something indeed change?

Yes, it is all Contax G2.No, I dont think it is such a shift, have a look at Ed In Japan, or my Nurnberg book for example. We got the keys to the house in the country, two days after my friend and agent Katy Baggott died. We worked together for 17 years. We drove to the country the day after the funeral, opened the door, and I walked the countryside, taking photographs.

Hello Juergen,I'd like to know who you've had the most fun working with and why ...you can pick 2 or 3 people if you're finding it difficult to decide(!) + I don't think you should include Sadie in this cos that's just favouritism ;-)Also, if you dare, who have you had the least fun working with and why?!

Hi Juergen - I'm a Brit living in Germany and avidly followed your column in Zeit Magazin - I either liked or really liked most of the images (and texts) and some were just plain excellent. What did the average German make of them? And are you highly regarded in Germany as a photographer and/or artist?

Anyhow - the Zeit photos were a good opportunity for me to rediscover your work. I was familiar with it in the late 90's when I lived in HH and knew your cousin Helmut. Lost contact, sadly, when I moved.

very sorry you lost contact with Helmut. I wanted to write down his number but my PA said I was mad. Thank you very much for your comments. Im publishing a book with Steidl very soon. Two volumes. One is Bilder und Texte (English and German editions) Its my column from Die Zeit, with a lot of unpublished work. The second volume, is called Literature, and it is a compilation of reader letters I received. And you can read there, what the average germans made of them! They are pretty devastating. It is a brilliant read.

The images in your new show at Lehmann Maupin Gallery aren't immediately pleasing. Rather it takes a couple of moments and even a return to the pictures in order to fully appreciate them. In this way they challenge me for much longer than your work before (which I have always followed and truly admired). To me this is the sign of really interesting work would you agree?Over the past 20 years I feel as though your photography style has rather dramatically altered the accepted way flash is used and also the way that movement is used in a composition. Is there an inspirational artist/photographer for you that did/does the same thing?

After my dads suicide, I wanted to visit Czechoslovakia, Christmas 1991, with my mother and my uncle. In this village, Schoenbach (which translates as pretty stream) where my dad was born. I didnt find a pretty stream, all I found was a frozen dead dog dumped in a dustbin.